Friday, May 29, 2015

Homebrew Morse Code Paddle Key

I wanted to make this all the time. However, I really did not get any inspiration to build this one. Because none of my computers has any sound cards. I am sure they have some kind of sound card, but it is probably not good enough for radio operation.

After the vintage radio exhibition, I decided to make a paddle key by myself. Becuase normally all the paddle keys are quite expensive on the internet. I did not want to spend that much money to buy a paddle key while I can build one by myself.

I designed the case through Autodesk Inventor in about 45 minutes. I considered where the keys, electric lines, and hinges will go too.

This is the case I made. Since there were a few holes in the model,

it had to go into a some kind of chemical bath to melt supporting materials.

This is the final result I have.

The input is audio jack.

I could not test this yet. Because the HAM radio shack is closed for this week. Thus, I cannot test this yet. I tried to do it with my Surface Pro 3, but it seems not working. When I tested the unit with a multimeter, I confirmed that the electricities flow the lines and paddle key perfectly.